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This week's magazine

7 January 2012

Issue 2846

New Scientist issue 2846 cover
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Editor's picks

Dark matter mysteries: a true game of shadows

Dark matter mysteries: a true game of shadows

Features
Into thin air: Gliding to 90,000 feet

Technology

Into thin air: Gliding to 90,000 feet

Features
Boom and doom: Revisiting prophecies of collapse

Earth

Boom and doom: Revisiting prophecies of collapse

Features
Earthquakes: History and measurement

Earthquakes: History and measurement

Features
Earthquakes: Ground motion

Earthquakes: Ground motion

Features
Earthquakes: Prediction

Earthquakes: Prediction

Features
Earthquakes: Which way now?

Earthquakes: Which way now?

Features

Table of contents

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Jupiter's heart is dissolving

Space

Jupiter's heart is dissolving

Losing its heart Even the mighty can lose heart. New calculations suggest that Jupiter's rocky core is dissolving like an antacid tablet plopped in water. The work could help explain why its core appears smaller and its atmosphere richer in heavy elements than predicted. Giant planets like Jupiter and Saturn are thought to have begun …

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Space

Twin satellites buzz around man in the moon

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Space

Nobel prizewinning quasicrystal fell from space

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Life

Parasitic fly could account for disappearing honeybees

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Life

A scorpion's body serves as a basic eye

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Life

Dolphin increasingly on the menu in poor countries

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Life

Biobank UK prepares to open for business

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60 Seconds

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Health

Murder trial highlights return of Dickensian killer

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Space

Hundreds of tiny moons may be orbiting Earth

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Physics

Higgs result means elegant universe is back in vogue

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Life

Siberia was a wildlife refuge in the last ice age

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Life

Turtles' map holds if Earth's magnetic field drifts

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Health

Battle to eradicate polio reaches critical endgame

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Health

Birth trauma etched in ancient female pelvis

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Life

Chimps learn about nature's medicine chest from elders

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Space

Did star cluster death rays zap Earth?

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Life

Antarctic fossil shows sauropod dinosaurs were global

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Disguised stem cells home in on injuries

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Life

Eunuch spiders still have balls

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Space

Mundane dark matter may lurk in starry clusters

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Health

Common virus may trigger MS nerve damage

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Technology

Buildings and clothes could melt to save energy

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Technology

Air battery to let electric cars outlast gas guzzlers

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Technology

Stroke your car seat to pump up the volume

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Technology

Timeline puts your life in Facebook's hands

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Technology

Kinect system tracks you with an eye on your shoes

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Physics

Faster-than-light neutrinos dealt another blow

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Health

FBI crackdown on unproven stem cell therapies

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Opinion

New Scientist. Science news and long reads from expert journalists, covering developments in science, technology, health and the environment on the website and the magazine.

Technology

The man who saves Stephen Hawking's voice

Sam Blackburn has been responsible for the technology which allows Stephen Hawking to communicate for the past five years. Now he's moving on. The challenge for his successor: to keep that well-known voice in working order You have been Stephen Hawking's technician since 2006. What was top of your to-do list when you started work? …

Opinion

Earth

Ecologists should learn to look on the bright side

Opinion

Science needs a universal symbol

Opinion

Earth

Roger Scruton: Green philosophy begins at home

Opinion

Space

Stephen Hawking at 70: Exclusive interview

Opinion

Physics

No more eureka moments

Opinion

Down with the Dickensian disease of rickets

Opinion

Aperture

New Scientist. Science news and long reads from expert journalists, covering developments in science, technology, health and the environment on the website and the magazine.

Look into the eyes of a rare ancient African sculpture

See more: To see the image this article refers to, keep checking Picture of the Day on our news blog Short Sharp Science IF THEY exist at all, most unglazed clay objects from ancient times are now rubble, mere fragments of their former glory. This terracotta head, at around 2000 years old, is a rare …

Regulars

Features

Dark matter mysteries: a true game of shadows

Dark matter mysteries: a true game of shadows

Far from shedding light on dark matter, our first experimental glimpses of the elusive stuff have only deepened its mystique

Features

Technology

Into thin air: Gliding to 90,000 feet

Features

Earth

Boom and doom: Revisiting prophecies of collapse

Features

Earthquakes: History and measurement

Features

Earthquakes: Ground motion

Features

Earthquakes: Prediction

Features

Earthquakes: Which way now?

Features

Culturelab

New Scientist. Science news and long reads from expert journalists, covering developments in science, technology, health and the environment on the website and the magazine.

Cooperation, the secret weapon of our species

In his thoughtful Together: The rituals, pleasures and politics of co-operation , Richard Sennett argues there are ways to overcome ingrained tribalism RICHARD SENNETT'S Together is the second in a planned trilogy of books about "the skills people need to sustain everyday life". The first instalment, The Craftsman , proposed and explored the notion of …

CultureLab

Ten books for 2012

CultureLab

Sex, brains and a frustrated reader

CultureLab

More

New Scientist. Science news and long reads from expert journalists, covering developments in science, technology, health and the environment on the website and the magazine.

Enigma Number 1679

Welcome to 2012 I have written down three 3-digit integers which between them use nine different digits. Their sum is 2012. One of the three integers is a perfect square. I have also written down another three 3-digit integers which between them use nine different digits. Their sum is also 2012. One of the three …

Regulars

Regulars

New Scientist. Science news and long reads from expert journalists, covering developments in science, technology, health and the environment on the website and the magazine.

Feedback: Floating in a most peculiar garb

Floating in a most peculiar garb HOODED plastic ponchos imported into Canada by the company 3230121 Canada Inc are described as: "lightweight; reusable; one size fits all; a must for emergencies, space travel, space etc". "The cost of space travel is truly falling," surmises Christopher Garner, and similar comments appeared on internet humour sites . …

Regulars

Regulars

Letters

Regulars

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